steller’s eider duck. 
35 
Cqj. ^ neck ; centre of the chest and upper breast chestnut ; 
sides of the chest paler and more cinnamon, 
wh' down the sides of the body to the lower flanks, 
as th whiter ; centre of the breast and abdomen, as well 
1 ne sides of the vent and under tail-coverts, black, the latter 
s ossed with purple ; under wing-coverts and axillaries white ; 
side of the upper breast a patch of purplish-black, 
nie of the feathers broadly-edged with this colour ; bill lead- 
b? '■'P ’ lead-colour, webs 
ackish-grey; iris dark brown. Total length, 17-0 inches j 
n men, i-6; wing, S’j; tail, 3'5 ; tarsus, 1-4. 
■ Female. — Blackish above, mottled with rufous bars, very 
mdistinct on the lower back and rump, but more pronounced 
d the hind-neck and mantle ; wings dark brown ; the greater 
coverts tipped with white, forming an upper margin to the 
Peculum on the secondaries, which are e.xternally metallic- 
Purple, and broadly tipped with white ; the innermost second- 
aries slightly falcate, externally purple, and with a whitish 
reak down the centre ; head and neck rufous-brown, slightly 
"lottled on the hind-neck and lower throat with rufous-buff; 
ore-neck and chest dark chestnut, mottled with black centres 
of ; breast and abdomen blackish-brown, the sides 
r the body slightly more chestnut ; under wing-coverts white, 
ose round the edge of the wing blackish, with pale edges ; 
ower primary-coverts and quill-lining ashy-grey. Total length, 
rS'o inches ; wing, 8-5. 
Yonng Birds. — Brown, much paler than the adult female, the 
Gathers of the upper surface margined with sandy-buff; the 
ower surface dull chestnut everywhere, mottled with blackish 
u -terminal bars to the feathers; head brown; feathers round 
d ^i "'hitish, with dusky streaks ; sides of face and throat 
nil buff, with dusky streaks and bars ; speculum as in the 
male, but black, with scarcely any gloss ; “ bill dark blue ; 
Gt and toes slaty-olive ; iris dark hazel ” (£. Wi JVe/soii). 
the generic characters given above, 
stHV ■ ® be easily recognised by its peculiar and 
sex^'"?, “*°''^bon. The purple speculum present in both 
above and below by a white band in the female, 
ne white head of the male with the green patch on the 
D 2 
